Ronbus Quanta R3 – my favorite $100 paddle yet

Ronbus paddles used to feature heavily on Pickleheads’ guides. They were one of our co-founder Brandon’s favorite companies, making quality carbon paddles at a lower cost than the likes of CRBN and JOOLA. But with so much competition between rivaling paddle manufacturers the last couple years, Ronbus kind of fell into obscurity.

We were surprised, then, when Ronbus reappeared from nowhere with a big statement. Their Quanta series not only launches them into Gen 4 foam paddle territory, they’ve only gone and listed it at the shockingly low price of $120.

I tested the R3, which is the elongated model, and my first thoughts were that this is a cool-looking paddle. Other players on the courts also commented on the clean look, with a nice light blue theme. It also felt great in my hands – a premium feel from the foam core and a really light stock weight.

This was my first time playing with a Ronbus paddle and what I didn’t expect was for a budget paddle to hit so hard, with the caveat that it took some tinkering around to get that power. I’ll explain more about this below, but overall, up top, I’m going out on a limb and saying that this is my new favorite paddle in the $100 range. If you optimize it to your liking, it delivers almost everything that other foam paddles do at a fraction of the price.

The Ronbus Quanta Series retails for $120, which is already a bargain. We’ve got a massive $20 off for our readers, so you can get this paddle for just $99.99 when you use our code PICKLEHEADS at checkout on the Ronbus store. That’s crazy for a foam paddle, especially one that’s this good.

The Ronbus Quanta has that nice, responsive foam paddle feel where the sweet spot is bigger and more forgiving. I wanted to compare it to way more expensive paddles so I let a couple of people try it out. Their main paddles were the Selkirk LABS 008 and the JOOLA Pro IV, both of which cost $280. Honestly, they couldn’t put the Ronbus down.

Everyone commented on how good this paddle is. I’m not saying it’s good enough to play in tournaments, but it’s an excellent budget alternative to a pro pickleball paddle. If I wasn’t trying to go pro myself, I wouldn’t hesitate to make this my main paddle.

Compared to other paddles I’ve tested recently – like the Versix Vector XL and Vatic Pro V-Sol Power – I prefer the Ronbus as it has a more premium feel.

Right out of the box there’s solid power – enough to put balls away. However, I heard that if you weight it right, it can hit as hard as the $333 Selkirk Boomstik, which is the most powerful paddle in pickleball right now.

I put seven ounces of lead tape on either side of this paddle and was blown away by the difference. I wouldn’t say it’s quite as powerful as the Boomstik. If that’s a 10 out of 10 on power, you can get up to 9.5 here. For a $99 paddle… dang, that is good.

I was able to just rip through my serve. In a run of five games, I got two or three aces and about seven to eight free points off my serve.

Most elongated paddles have a heavy feel so I really like the lightness here. Even with the extra 14 ounces I put on it, my hands were still fast. Because the paddle pops so much, I was lethal at the net in hands battles. Anytime the ball went high, it was going to be a putaway.

I heard other reviewers saying that you need to put weight on this paddle to enjoy it, but right out of the box I enjoyed playing with this one thoroughly. If you don’t need a lot of power, you don’t need to do anything with this paddle.

Because it’s so light, though, you can configure it with weight however you like and not affect your hand speed.

Because it's so light out of the box, some players may have a hard time with the paddle moving in their hands. The twist rate is low at 5.64 (which is in the lower tenth percentile). Again, the good news is this can be stabilized easily with weighted tape.

It can be seen as a positive that the Quanta comes in five different shapes but the difference between them can be quite drastic so just be aware of that when choosing. I only got to test the elongated R3, so do research on the other models before picking one.

The coloring on this paddle looks great but it shows a lot of stains and wear and tear. That doesn’t bother me so much but some players might want to be aware of that.

I would say this is a beginner-friendly pickleball paddle. I gave it to several players who were between 2.0 and 3.5 (intermediate) skill levels and after about five or six points they started getting the hang of it, learning that they didn't need to swing as hard. So, it’s a good starter and intermediate paddle. It’s very versatile so you can use it as a softer paddle with great forgiveness or customize it and make it a more powerful paddle.